It is an unlikely song writing pair: Astor Piazzolla and Atahualpa Yupanqui. But José Pons and his wife provided the opportunity for the two to work together and create the piece, Campo, camino y amor in their Paris home in 1974. The canción is rarely performed but a performance of it by the Episodio Trio is featured in today's video.
Héctor Roberto Chavero Aramburo was born in 1908 - his father a descendant of the indigenous people of Argentina, his mother from the Basque country of Europe. As a performer, he took the stage name Atahualpa Yupanqui to honor the names of two great Inca kings. Until his death in 1992, he was the most famous folk musician in Argentina and shared his music and the music of the country people of Argentina with the world. He challenged the political system of Argentina and spent time in exile and in prison as a result. While his music bears little relationship to that of Piazzolla, during their lifetimes they shared a common bond of rejection within their shared homeland. And, today they share a common veneration. That these two almost legendary figures created together the canción, Campo, camino y amor, is almost as remarkable as the fact that the canción remains an almost undiscovered gem today.
The story of their meeting in Paris at the home of Argentine architect, José Pons, himself an exile from Argentina, is well documented as a result of the publication of a small book, Astor Atahualpa: Los Caminos de la Identidad (the full text is at that link), written by Piazzolla's daughter, Diana, and Atahualpa's son, Roberto Chavero, with a third author,Fuentes Rey, describing the origin of today's featured song, Campo, camino y amor. The story of this canción as extracted in this blog is roughly this: Piazzolla and Atahualpa were both performing in Paris. They met as dinner guests at the Pons home and Atahualpa told the story of how his parents met. All present thought the story would make a good canción. Atahualpa agreed to write a poem about it and Piazzolla agreed to put the poem to music. Unlike many such ideas hatched over wine and good food, it actually happened that way. Hopefully, Piazzolla had a chance to introduce the canción to the Pons family but I find no evidence that he did. In December of 1974 at Teatro Coliseo in Buenos Aires, the work was performed by Amelita Baltar, Piazzolla's vocalist, companion and presumed fellow guest at the Pons dinner. Ms. Baltar later recorded the work on the CD, Referencias. The only other recording of the work I find is by María Estela Monti on the CD, Solo Piazzolla.
And who are the Episodio Trio that perform the work in today's video? I don't know. There is no information accompanying the video and I can find no helpful reference to the group on the web. Hopefully someone reading this blog will recognize them and tell us a little more about them in the comment section below. Their performance, which is the only presentation of Campo, camino y amor on YouTube, is excellent - they deserve recognition.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
500 Motivaciones
Piazzolla "plugged in" in the mid-70's with several versions of an Octeto Electronico. Influenced by Chick Corea's sound and with the encouragement of his son, Daniel, who was among the pioneers playing the electronic synthesizer, he gathered seven musicians, including Daniel, and "electrified" his nuevo tango sound. You can see a 1975 example of that group here.
In 1976, influenced not by Corea but by the young musicians who were bringing a rock sound to tango, he very significantly changed the sound of the music to bring the aggressive sound of rock into his neuevo tango. The young rockers applauded the move but the Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango, indicates that Piazzolla was not so sure it was the right sound for him. The piece, 500 motivaciones, may be the best example of that sound. The work was featured in a famous concert in December, 1976 at Teatro Gran Rex in Buenos Aires. Unfortunately, the Piazzolla discography contains no recording of 500 motivaciones. But, rumors have long persisted that a recording was made at Teatro Gran Rex and this week, a recording of 500 motivaciones made directly from the mix board at the Gran Rex made its way to the web. You can hear that recording, at least as I write this you can here it, at this link. There are many Piazzolla fans who have waited for years to hear this recording.
The sound is a bit rough, in the sense that the music does not sound as well rehearsed as usual - perhaps that is part of aiming for a looser rock sound. There are places where it seems that the flutist just can't quite keep up with the group (note that the Luis Ferreyra had replaced the Octeto's original flutist, Arturo Schneider, at this time) but it is a relentlessly driving work that still clearly comes from the pen of Piazzolla. The Octeto was disbanded shortly after the Gran Rex concert only to be reassembled with an almost totally different set of musicians (only Astor and Daniel were in both groups) for a series of performances at the Olympia Theater in France which have been captured on a French LP, Olympia 77. 500 motivaciones was featured at those concerts and was well received. But things never really gelled with this second version of the Octeto and Piazzolla disbanded it and abandoned the "electrified" sound for the rest of his career.
To my knowledge there is only one commercial recording of the work and it is a quite good one by the Ensamble Nuevo Tango. In 1986, Piazzolla gave that group his original manuscript for 500 motivaciones so their performance, other than instrumentation, is quite authentic. Fortunately, they have provided a video of their performance which can be viewed below. The rough, rock edges have been removed and it is well rehearsed but it is still a relentlessly driving work. To me, their version sounds more like Piazzolla than Piazzolla's own Octeto Electronico version.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
In 1976, influenced not by Corea but by the young musicians who were bringing a rock sound to tango, he very significantly changed the sound of the music to bring the aggressive sound of rock into his neuevo tango. The young rockers applauded the move but the Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango, indicates that Piazzolla was not so sure it was the right sound for him. The piece, 500 motivaciones, may be the best example of that sound. The work was featured in a famous concert in December, 1976 at Teatro Gran Rex in Buenos Aires. Unfortunately, the Piazzolla discography contains no recording of 500 motivaciones. But, rumors have long persisted that a recording was made at Teatro Gran Rex and this week, a recording of 500 motivaciones made directly from the mix board at the Gran Rex made its way to the web. You can hear that recording, at least as I write this you can here it, at this link. There are many Piazzolla fans who have waited for years to hear this recording.
The sound is a bit rough, in the sense that the music does not sound as well rehearsed as usual - perhaps that is part of aiming for a looser rock sound. There are places where it seems that the flutist just can't quite keep up with the group (note that the Luis Ferreyra had replaced the Octeto's original flutist, Arturo Schneider, at this time) but it is a relentlessly driving work that still clearly comes from the pen of Piazzolla. The Octeto was disbanded shortly after the Gran Rex concert only to be reassembled with an almost totally different set of musicians (only Astor and Daniel were in both groups) for a series of performances at the Olympia Theater in France which have been captured on a French LP, Olympia 77. 500 motivaciones was featured at those concerts and was well received. But things never really gelled with this second version of the Octeto and Piazzolla disbanded it and abandoned the "electrified" sound for the rest of his career.
To my knowledge there is only one commercial recording of the work and it is a quite good one by the Ensamble Nuevo Tango. In 1986, Piazzolla gave that group his original manuscript for 500 motivaciones so their performance, other than instrumentation, is quite authentic. Fortunately, they have provided a video of their performance which can be viewed below. The rough, rock edges have been removed and it is well rehearsed but it is still a relentlessly driving work. To me, their version sounds more like Piazzolla than Piazzolla's own Octeto Electronico version.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Boulouris 5
Many musicians play all the notes, only a few make beautiful music. Boulouris 5 makes beautiful music (and they don't miss any notes, either). This Lausanne, Switzerland based quintet is on my short list of groups I would like to see in concert. Their interpretations are unique and extraordinarily musical. It is only a slight exaggeration to say that they are Piazzolla specialists. They have issued four albums - three of which are virtually devoted to the music of Piazzolla. Part of their success is due to the fact that they understand and have mastered all of Piazzolla's musical gestures and can execute them not just with precision but with feeling. I could not decide which of two recently posted videos was best so have featured them both: La Muerte del Angel and Contrabajissimo. The videos are from a live performance at Vevey. The music from that performance is available for download from Amazon.com or iTunes.
The composition of the group is not what you would expect for Piazzolla specialists: Stéphanie Joseph on violin, Jean-Samuel Racine on clarinet, Anne Gillot on bass clarinet, Ignacio Lamas on guitar, and Jocelyne Rudasigwa on contrabass. Racine and Lamas do their arrangements. While I would be content to just listen to their Piazzolla, they do need to make a living and seem to be understandably reluctant to leave the Suisse Romande so they have packaged their talents into a series of eight musical spectacles which can attract much larger audiences. The most recent such spectacle, Newman Waits Here, covers the work of Tom Waits and Randy Newman. You can see examples of their vocal, mime and comedy talents in the fifteen videos posted on JeansamRacine's YouTubeChannel.
I prefer just the music and the two videos below illustrate why. If they do not appear below, click here and then here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
The composition of the group is not what you would expect for Piazzolla specialists: Stéphanie Joseph on violin, Jean-Samuel Racine on clarinet, Anne Gillot on bass clarinet, Ignacio Lamas on guitar, and Jocelyne Rudasigwa on contrabass. Racine and Lamas do their arrangements. While I would be content to just listen to their Piazzolla, they do need to make a living and seem to be understandably reluctant to leave the Suisse Romande so they have packaged their talents into a series of eight musical spectacles which can attract much larger audiences. The most recent such spectacle, Newman Waits Here, covers the work of Tom Waits and Randy Newman. You can see examples of their vocal, mime and comedy talents in the fifteen videos posted on JeansamRacine's YouTubeChannel.
I prefer just the music and the two videos below illustrate why. If they do not appear below, click here and then here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Royal Command Whiskey
I don't know if it was a labor of love or a simple opportunity to pick up a spot of quick and easy cash, but in 1979 Piazzolla made the television commercial for a local whiskey called Royal Command that is our featured video today.
According to the Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango, the video was made shortly after his fifty-eighth birthday. The book provides this translation of his message: "The world is moving away from its roots. People are moving away from their origins. Everyone is searching for something."
So far as I know it is the only commercial ever made starring Piazzolla although his music has been and is still being used in a variety of unlikely television commercials.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
According to the Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango, the video was made shortly after his fifty-eighth birthday. The book provides this translation of his message: "The world is moving away from its roots. People are moving away from their origins. Everyone is searching for something."
So far as I know it is the only commercial ever made starring Piazzolla although his music has been and is still being used in a variety of unlikely television commercials.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Le Grand Tango - Swing Sling Brass
I would not think it easy to rearrange a work composed for cello and piano to a work played on two trombones, three trumpets, a french horn and a tuba but the Swedish trombonist and musical wizard, Lars Karlin, has done just that. Proof awaits in today's video of Swing Sling Brass playing Le Grand Tango.
Le Grand Tango is serious music. It was composed specifically for famed cellist, Mstislav Rostropovich - you can read background on the work and hear him play it here. On the surface, Swing Sling Brass are not serious musicians. They are entertainers and are more known for their on-stage hi-jinks, many of which you can enjoy in this video, than they are for concert grade music. However, as today's video shows they are very talented musicians and fully capable of addressing complex and technically challenging music. There are rough edges in the performance but the excitement and energy that are embedded in the score are delivered better in this performance than in just about any other I have heard.
There are other arrangements of Le Grand Tango. There is a good woodwind quintet arrangement and many musicians have moved the cello part to other instruments such as violin, viola. bassoon and even flute. The arrangements are safe and careful. Lars Karlin has exploded the work and reconstructed it for brass. Performances of the original often interpret it as a cello solo accompanied by piano - it is not that. It is a duet. The piano part is important and plays a role equal to that of the cello. Karlin has recognized this and captured both voices in a very sculptural manner. The trombone usually takes the main cello line - but not always. Trumpets usually cover the treble of the piano - but not always. The overall structure is true to the original with the exception of a trombone cadenza at approximately 6'40" into the video. Since there is no live video, I can't be sure, but I think the cadenza is played by Geir Anfinsen while the rest of the septet vamps behind the solo. In a little less than a minute, the group returns to the score. It is an interesting break - no harm was done. I am in awe of the quality of the arrangement. Libertango is a staple for brass ensembles but there is so much more Piazzolla which would be stunning on brass. I can hardly wait to hear what Mr. Karlin does with the rest of the Piazzolla catalog and I hope that Swing Sling Brass brings his arrangements to us sooner rather than later.
I encourage you to visit the Swing Sling Brass Music page. There is wonderful music there and you can appreciate their musical skills without the smiles interfering with your hearing. The performance of Le Grand Tango on that page is, I believe, different than the one in the video and is a little more polished but with no loss of excitement.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Le Grand Tango is serious music. It was composed specifically for famed cellist, Mstislav Rostropovich - you can read background on the work and hear him play it here. On the surface, Swing Sling Brass are not serious musicians. They are entertainers and are more known for their on-stage hi-jinks, many of which you can enjoy in this video, than they are for concert grade music. However, as today's video shows they are very talented musicians and fully capable of addressing complex and technically challenging music. There are rough edges in the performance but the excitement and energy that are embedded in the score are delivered better in this performance than in just about any other I have heard.
There are other arrangements of Le Grand Tango. There is a good woodwind quintet arrangement and many musicians have moved the cello part to other instruments such as violin, viola. bassoon and even flute. The arrangements are safe and careful. Lars Karlin has exploded the work and reconstructed it for brass. Performances of the original often interpret it as a cello solo accompanied by piano - it is not that. It is a duet. The piano part is important and plays a role equal to that of the cello. Karlin has recognized this and captured both voices in a very sculptural manner. The trombone usually takes the main cello line - but not always. Trumpets usually cover the treble of the piano - but not always. The overall structure is true to the original with the exception of a trombone cadenza at approximately 6'40" into the video. Since there is no live video, I can't be sure, but I think the cadenza is played by Geir Anfinsen while the rest of the septet vamps behind the solo. In a little less than a minute, the group returns to the score. It is an interesting break - no harm was done. I am in awe of the quality of the arrangement. Libertango is a staple for brass ensembles but there is so much more Piazzolla which would be stunning on brass. I can hardly wait to hear what Mr. Karlin does with the rest of the Piazzolla catalog and I hope that Swing Sling Brass brings his arrangements to us sooner rather than later.
I encourage you to visit the Swing Sling Brass Music page. There is wonderful music there and you can appreciate their musical skills without the smiles interfering with your hearing. The performance of Le Grand Tango on that page is, I believe, different than the one in the video and is a little more polished but with no loss of excitement.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Retrato de Milton - Novjaro Quintet
It is difficult to imagine a connection between the shores of the Rio Plata, birthplace of the tango and of Astor Piazzolla, and the shores of a remote archipelago on the southern coast of Finland; but, for a day in July of this year, the Novjaro Quintet provided that connection with a concert of twelve Piazzolla compositions at the city hall of Hanko, Finland. Today's featured video of a performance of Retrato de Milton is from that concert.
Finnish tango is very interesting and has its own blog. But while Finnish tango may belong to the same genus as Argentine tango, it is a different species and the music of Piazzolla plays almost no part in Finnish tango. In the ten years of the existence of the Finnish tango blog, there is only one reference to Piazzolla. So it is surprising to find not one but two active quintets devoted to the music of Piazzolla in Finland, and perhaps there are even more yet to be discovered on YouTube. One of the most accurate reproducers of the Piazzolla quintet sound in the world is the Finnish group, Tanguedia. Today's featured group, Novjaro Quintet, does not have the authentic Piazzolla timbre of Tanguedia (an electric guitar and more use of the bandoneón would change that), but they provide a detailed, nuanced and musically compelling interpretation of Piazzolla.
Novjaro began in 1997, when students at the Sibelius Academy met to play Piazzolla together. In the year 2000, they won the Piazzolla Award in Castelfidardo, Italy. Violinist, Noa Nakai, and contrabass player, Julius Pyrhönen, are the only current members who were part of the original Novjaro. All the current members are superb musicians but Nakai's violin work in the featured video and in the video of Mumuki must be singled out and recognized as sublime. His sound is very close to that of Antonio Agri, violinist in Piazzolla's first quintet.
You can find all twelve performances from the July, Hanko concert on the Novjaro YouTube Channel. I chose to feature Retrato de Milton for two reasons: one, it is rarely heard and, two, it is the only one of the twelve to use bandoneón rather than accordion. I applaud Veli Kujala for his use of bandoneón in spite of his obvious lack of comfort on the instrument - I hope he will continue to work and play it more in the future. In 1969, Piazzolla composed Retrato de mi mismo which translates roughly as "Portrait of myself." In 1972, he met a young Brazilian musician and composer, Milton Nascimento, who so impressed him that when he rewrote Retrato de mi mismo into a more complex form, he retitled it as Retrato de Milton. There is perhaps a symbolic significance of Piazzolla recognizing himself in the young composer, Milton Nascimento, and converting his self-portrait into a portrait of Milton. Piazzolla recorded the work only once, in a July, 1973,live concert at the Teatro Odeón in Buenos Aires which can be heard on the readily available CD, Muerte del Angel.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
Note added 12 October, 2011: Noa Nakai was kind enough to provide me a list of additional Piazzolla bands in Finland. They include Otra Vez, In Time Quintet, Quinteto Fuego, Tango for Four and Tangueros Polares. It is not clear how many of these are still active bands.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Finnish tango is very interesting and has its own blog. But while Finnish tango may belong to the same genus as Argentine tango, it is a different species and the music of Piazzolla plays almost no part in Finnish tango. In the ten years of the existence of the Finnish tango blog, there is only one reference to Piazzolla. So it is surprising to find not one but two active quintets devoted to the music of Piazzolla in Finland, and perhaps there are even more yet to be discovered on YouTube. One of the most accurate reproducers of the Piazzolla quintet sound in the world is the Finnish group, Tanguedia. Today's featured group, Novjaro Quintet, does not have the authentic Piazzolla timbre of Tanguedia (an electric guitar and more use of the bandoneón would change that), but they provide a detailed, nuanced and musically compelling interpretation of Piazzolla.
Novjaro began in 1997, when students at the Sibelius Academy met to play Piazzolla together. In the year 2000, they won the Piazzolla Award in Castelfidardo, Italy. Violinist, Noa Nakai, and contrabass player, Julius Pyrhönen, are the only current members who were part of the original Novjaro. All the current members are superb musicians but Nakai's violin work in the featured video and in the video of Mumuki must be singled out and recognized as sublime. His sound is very close to that of Antonio Agri, violinist in Piazzolla's first quintet.
You can find all twelve performances from the July, Hanko concert on the Novjaro YouTube Channel. I chose to feature Retrato de Milton for two reasons: one, it is rarely heard and, two, it is the only one of the twelve to use bandoneón rather than accordion. I applaud Veli Kujala for his use of bandoneón in spite of his obvious lack of comfort on the instrument - I hope he will continue to work and play it more in the future. In 1969, Piazzolla composed Retrato de mi mismo which translates roughly as "Portrait of myself." In 1972, he met a young Brazilian musician and composer, Milton Nascimento, who so impressed him that when he rewrote Retrato de mi mismo into a more complex form, he retitled it as Retrato de Milton. There is perhaps a symbolic significance of Piazzolla recognizing himself in the young composer, Milton Nascimento, and converting his self-portrait into a portrait of Milton. Piazzolla recorded the work only once, in a July, 1973,live concert at the Teatro Odeón in Buenos Aires which can be heard on the readily available CD, Muerte del Angel.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
Note added 12 October, 2011: Noa Nakai was kind enough to provide me a list of additional Piazzolla bands in Finland. They include Otra Vez, In Time Quintet, Quinteto Fuego, Tango for Four and Tangueros Polares. It is not clear how many of these are still active bands.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Escualo - Duo Kutrowatz
It is difficult to decide whether the star of this video is Piazzolla's composition, Escualo, the arranger, Kyoko Yamamoto, or the performers, Duo Kutrowatz. The three certainly work together well.
Escualo (the title translates to Shark) was composed in 1979 and is one of the most rhythmically challenging of Piazzolla's works and one of my favorites - this is the ninth time the work has been featured in this blog. In a two year survey of the most frequently performed Piazzolla compositions, it was number 17. I think the challenge of the work keeps its performance frequency down. Piazzolla recorded the work four times. My favorite was captured live on October 13, 1983 in Lugano, Switzerland and can be heard on the readily available CD, Adios Nonino. A later but very similar performance by the quintet can be seen in this video.
It is a great challenge to capture the essence of that quintet performance in a work for two pianos but Kyoko Yamamoto has done an excellent job of just that. Ms. Yamamoto is a classically trained pianist from Kobe College but her fame has not come from her work as a pianist but rather as an arranger of the works of Piazzolla for piano - both solo and duo piano. You can find many pianists playing her arrangements on YouTube. The Yonezawa Piazzolla score list references 31 pieces Ms. Yamamoto has arranged and I believe there are even more which have not yet been made commercially available. Many young musicians receive their first exposure to the music of Piazzolla through her arrangements. She is an important person in the Piazzolla world.
Ms. Yamamoto has been fortunate to have attracted the attention of such superb pianists as Eduard and Johannes Kutrowatz. The Kutrowatz brothers were trained at Josef Haydn Conservatory in Eisenstadt and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. They have performed professionally as a duo since 1986 and have an uncanny rapport at the piano. They have toured the world and made a name for themselves particulary with the works of Liszt. Their attention to Piazzolla is relatively recent but they have clearly been captured by his music. Their latest recording, Tango Nuevo, is devoted entirely to the works of Astor Piazzolla as arranged by Ms. Yamamoto. Escualo is included on that recording. You can find a video of their performance of Michelangelo '70, also on that recording, here. Escualo is rhythmically challenging and it a credit to the Kutrowatz brothers that they are in perfect synchronization throughout the performance. I think their performance does capture the compositional creativity of the work but it moves forward with Teutonic certainty rather than with the Latin swing that Piazzolla's quintet brought to the work. That swing may be impossible to capture on two pianos, it is largely due to accent pattern - which is different for each instrument in the quintet - and the subtle moving of those accents before and behind the beat. I am curious what a pair of truly canyengue pianists like Pablo Ziegler and Mario Parmisano would do with Ms. Yamamoto's arrangement of Escualo. Could they make it swing?
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
Escualo (the title translates to Shark) was composed in 1979 and is one of the most rhythmically challenging of Piazzolla's works and one of my favorites - this is the ninth time the work has been featured in this blog. In a two year survey of the most frequently performed Piazzolla compositions, it was number 17. I think the challenge of the work keeps its performance frequency down. Piazzolla recorded the work four times. My favorite was captured live on October 13, 1983 in Lugano, Switzerland and can be heard on the readily available CD, Adios Nonino. A later but very similar performance by the quintet can be seen in this video.
It is a great challenge to capture the essence of that quintet performance in a work for two pianos but Kyoko Yamamoto has done an excellent job of just that. Ms. Yamamoto is a classically trained pianist from Kobe College but her fame has not come from her work as a pianist but rather as an arranger of the works of Piazzolla for piano - both solo and duo piano. You can find many pianists playing her arrangements on YouTube. The Yonezawa Piazzolla score list references 31 pieces Ms. Yamamoto has arranged and I believe there are even more which have not yet been made commercially available. Many young musicians receive their first exposure to the music of Piazzolla through her arrangements. She is an important person in the Piazzolla world.
Ms. Yamamoto has been fortunate to have attracted the attention of such superb pianists as Eduard and Johannes Kutrowatz. The Kutrowatz brothers were trained at Josef Haydn Conservatory in Eisenstadt and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. They have performed professionally as a duo since 1986 and have an uncanny rapport at the piano. They have toured the world and made a name for themselves particulary with the works of Liszt. Their attention to Piazzolla is relatively recent but they have clearly been captured by his music. Their latest recording, Tango Nuevo, is devoted entirely to the works of Astor Piazzolla as arranged by Ms. Yamamoto. Escualo is included on that recording. You can find a video of their performance of Michelangelo '70, also on that recording, here. Escualo is rhythmically challenging and it a credit to the Kutrowatz brothers that they are in perfect synchronization throughout the performance. I think their performance does capture the compositional creativity of the work but it moves forward with Teutonic certainty rather than with the Latin swing that Piazzolla's quintet brought to the work. That swing may be impossible to capture on two pianos, it is largely due to accent pattern - which is different for each instrument in the quintet - and the subtle moving of those accents before and behind the beat. I am curious what a pair of truly canyengue pianists like Pablo Ziegler and Mario Parmisano would do with Ms. Yamamoto's arrangement of Escualo. Could they make it swing?
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
Follow Piazzolla on Video on Twitter.
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